Three decades after the establishment of QCD as the theory of the strong
nuclear interaction, our understanding of its dynamics and of nucleon and nuclear structure
is substantially incomplete. The role of the sea and the glue remains not
well understood. A major breakthrough is expected to come with the
creation of an electron-ion collider intended to directly study the
fundamental constituents of matter, the quarks and gluons.

The focus of the workshop is to refine the physics issues that can be
addressed and the physics goals that can be achieved with an electron-ion
collider, and to continue work on design points for both the accelerator
and the detectors. This workshop is one in a series with a goal to prepare
a concrete proposal for such an electron-ion collider.

On behalf of the Second Electron Ion Collider Workshop Organizing
Committee, it is our pleasure to invite you and your colleagues to
participate in this workshop at Jefferson Laboratory, from March 15-17, 2004.
We do apologize for the late notice, but unexpectedly had to move the dates forward.